6 August 2013

Opposition availing itself of the Public Service's resources?

| johnboy
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Government News has an interesting take on Tony Abbott’s demands for carbon-tax scrapping legislation to be prepared for him:

Opposition leader Tony Abbott very publicly told the head of the public service, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Dr Ian Watt AO, that he expects to have legislation to scrap the price on carbon and an emissions trading scheme pre-written and ready to table should the Coalition win government.

The Coalition on Monday took the prominent step of releasing its official correspondence to Dr Watt in the form of a campaign email from Mr Abbott to voters saying that he has “asked the Secretary to have the necessary arrangements ready so that we can move swiftly, if elected.”

The bold move has underscored the Coalition’s sometimes testy relationship with the upper echelons of Canberra’s bureaucracy who have already been told to expect cuts of around 12,000 public service jobs.

After the party political abuse of the bureaucracy’s resources by the Rudd and Gillard governments it almost looks like fair play. But why stop with just this?

Why not demand policy development in other areas?

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HiddenDragon1:46 pm 06 Aug 13

In a similar vein, I wondered if all of the work to support Penny Wong’s expose on the Coalition’s “$70bn black hole” was done by Ministerial staff, or whether, perhaps, there was some departmental input….?

Frankly, where I am we seem to be an active part of the government’s re-election campaign.

And speaking of of which, I heard Nadine Flood this morning suggesting that the coalition could/ would cut 30,000 jobs.

Hyperbowl anyone?

(Yes, that was a deliberate spelling mistake…. )

Yes, I always found it very creepy the level of active “marketing” we seemed to do for the Minister, especially coming from the local government sector where you would never do any of the politicians bidding. One of the reasons I left really, oh, and to get away from my psychopathic EL1.

Frankly, where I am we seem to be an active part of the government’s re-election campaign.

And speaking of of which, I heard Nadine Flood this morning suggesting that the coalition could/ would cut 30,000 jobs.

Hyperbowl anyone?

(Yes, that was a deliberate spelling mistake…. )

Which makes this interesting:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/public-sector-union-halts-support-for-alp-over-budget-cuts-20130805-2rai8.html

Is that something the PS should/would normally do during the caretaker period? (Genuine question)

p1 said :

Matt_Watts said :

I suspect this means, if Abbott is elected, the APS won’t stuff around with the first introductory meetings etc in order to determine the govt’s priorities. If he is elected as PM, on day one, as opposed to day two or five, Abbott has formally stated he expects the APS to be working on this project. It’s about moving things more quickly than what would be the case in the usual election handover period. And sure, as you’d expect, there’s a bit of politics at play.

Unless he has to do some deal to form minority government. Except he has specifically stated he won’t do that. So I guess a coalition with the National Party is out.

They are within a formal coalition; everyone knows what he meant.

And why doesn’t anyone ever mention the coaltion with the Country Liberals from the NT? Surely that’s a goldmine for pedants with chips on their shoulders…?

Matt_Watts said :

I suspect this means, if Abbott is elected, the APS won’t stuff around with the first introductory meetings etc in order to determine the govt’s priorities. If he is elected as PM, on day one, as opposed to day two or five, Abbott has formally stated he expects the APS to be working on this project. It’s about moving things more quickly than what would be the case in the usual election handover period. And sure, as you’d expect, there’s a bit of politics at play.

Unless he has to do some deal to form minority government. Except he has specifically stated he won’t do that. So I guess a coalition with the National Party is out.

There is always a level of APS planning prior to an election. I can’t recall the exact words or timeframe so I won’t try to quote him, yet when Abbott released the corro he mentioned a rough timeframe within which he expected the draft legislation to be ready. Nobody is expecting parliament to sit on day one (and that would be too soon in any event, given the time it takes to declare all the seats).

I suspect this means, if Abbott is elected, the APS won’t stuff around with the first introductory meetings etc in order to determine the govt’s priorities. If he is elected as PM, on day one, as opposed to day two or five, Abbott has formally stated he expects the APS to be working on this project. It’s about moving things more quickly than what would be the case in the usual election handover period. And sure, as you’d expect, there’s a bit of politics at play.

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